How Compression Gives Rise to Metaphor and Metonymy

Posted: 31 Oct 2008

See all articles by Gilles Fauconnier

Gilles Fauconnier

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Department of Cognitive Science

Abstract

It is a great virtue of cognitive linguistics to have explored the central role of metaphor and metonymy in human conceptualization. Recent work has studied in depth the mappings, compressions, and integrations that yield a diversity of surface products, not just in language use, but also in religion, art, math, technology, and other human endeavors.

In the present talk, I discuss a range of phenomena, broadly classified as metonymy, but in fact quite different from each other in terms of mapping schemes, degrees of compression, and deferred reference. Typically, such phenomena also involve metaphoric compressions and covert parallel counterfactuals. In order to refine the analyses, linguistic tests will be proposed, based on the distribution of reflexives and substitution in causal chains.

The detailed examination of compression in meaning construction leads to a research program that seeks to understand metaphor and metonymy in terms of deeper regularities and a wide range of mapping possibilities.

Keywords: Conceptual Integraton, Cognitive Linguistics, Metaphor, Meonymy, Mappings, Compression, Blending

Suggested Citation

Fauconnier, Gilles, How Compression Gives Rise to Metaphor and Metonymy. 9th Conference on Conceptual Structure, Discourse, and Language (CSDL9), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1292850

Gilles Fauconnier (Contact Author)

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Department of Cognitive Science ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0515
United States

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